Prisoners of War
by Storm-Anime-FFWriter
Summary: AU, the cast of AOT are prisoners of Marley Empire because they lost the war. Now they are locked up in Marley Prison being forced laborers for Marley. But they won't be laborers for long, because they overheard what their fate be in the upcoming feast. The prisoners need to escape before that happens.
1. Chapter I: The Tactician

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

 **Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.**

 **This is AU, the cast of AOT are prisoners of Marley Empire because they lost the war. Now they are locked up in Marley Prison being forced laborers for Marley. But they won't be laborers for long, because they overheard what their fate be in the upcoming feast. The prisoners need to escape before that happens.**

 **March 12 - Marley Prison**

A blonde boy wearing a plain gray shirt and dark gray jogging pants was tied up and escorted by two huge men wearing a green soldier's uniform with an emblem patched in their chest, indicating that they belong to Marley.

 _My name is Armin Arlert. I am a citizen of Eldia, a country said that was cursed by our ancestor Ymir, because Ymir was a powerful woman and yet those powers she had was not bestowed on us. Instead, Marley, the country who hated us and took that power from us. They took the "Coordinate" - Ymir's power - and still they want more from us than that. They want the whole country of Eldia wiped out of existence._

The blonde boy had dried bruises in the side of his face, a bruised lip and a scar on the side of his neck, reaching down to his chest. He was in between the two men who was leading him into a dark hallway towards a place he wasn't sure he'd be happy to know of.

His heart was beating rapidly, his sight was blurred, his sense of hearing was inaudible as he walked. Fear crept up from his rapid heartbeat and chokes the air out of him. He was having a hard time breathing, he was having a hard time seeing - a hard time facing reality - but even so, his body moved automatically, still moving forward to where he was being led to go to.

 _We did not bother to fight them after they stole the Coordinate. But to attack us and kill hundreds of people in the process just so they can make a statement, it led to the prolonging war between us and them._

 _And this story is not about Eldia falling or Marley rising, this story is about the survivors of the 96th brigade wherein they sent over 50 squads in battle and another 50 for reinforcements. Our commander, Erwin Smith, took the gamble that by gathering these numbers and hitting Marley with these numbers will bring us to an advantage. And we all believed in him. That's why, the frontliners - 95th brigade - who were sacrifices, despite knowing what they ought to end up in, they agreed to go in battle and be decoys while Erwin gathers his numbers. Until finally he was able to form the 96th brigade._

He wants to block out all the noises as much as he could. But the closer he gets to the other side of the door, the louder the noise shatters his wall blocking the sound. But more importantly, the closer he gets to that door, the stronger his memories of the previous battle clings to him.

 _They had to hold up the front for us._

 _That's why we can't let their deaths be in vain._

 **The memory of their failure.**

 _I happen to be part of the 96th brigade, assigned tactician of the 104th squad. I lead a squad with over 30 people in it. Our squad was assigned to cover up the Recon Squad on their infiltration of the enemy's biggest weapon - the Titans. These Titans are huge battleships that once powered on, we had no chance of winning. Not even with our numbers._

Hearing the shouts, the explosions, the gunfire... it all echoed in his head as he got closer. No matter how hard he tries to block it, the sound kept on coming louder. As if it was the bell ringing, telling him it was Judgment Day.

He remembered everything clearly. People dying, not just any people, these are his comrades. Right in front of him... he'd see their bodies fall. They'd be lifeless in seconds out in the battlefield. Blood spilled wherever they are positioned. The front. The back. There was no safe place. He knew it was part of his job (their job) to do what they must and not turn back regardless of what happens to the others.

 _To sum up our job, it was the riskiest and heaviest out of all the others. Because we are the key to winning._

Back then he thought he'd done the right thing.

But seeing where he's headed now... maybe he didn't do the right thing at all.

* * *

"Armin run!"

"Darn it!"

"Don't look back!"

 **"Don't stop!"**

 **"EREN!"**

...

..

.

Armin shot up from his bed, waking up from another nightmare. Ever since he was brought to Marley Prison, he's been suffering these nightmares. He was drowsy at his sudden movement and held his head for a moment before clutching on his chest tightly.

He wanted to calm his breathing, his heartbeat... his anxiety.

"Hey get up man." his roommate tells him. He was a brunette boy with piercing eyes. "If you oversleep for even just a minute you'll miss breakfast."

It wasn't a big deal to miss it if their portions were actually fair and if they were actually being treated fairly. But they're not. They're being forced to serve their enemy to keep themselves alive. And food rations is something that they are fighting for in prison. Without enough strength they'd weaken their bodies.

Now they can only have two possible deaths. To die of starvation or to be killed because they're useless. Dying wasn't something they'd be freely okay about. They believe the war is ongoing. As long as they breathe, they are not going to give in to what Marley wants.

"I'm sorry."

Eren threw him a loaf of bread that he was hiding underneath his bed. Armin caught it in surprise. His face bewildered at the bread in his hand. "Don't ask. Just eat." Eren tells him as he fixes his bed.

Their bed was nothing but rags piled together. For them, that was bed.

"This is too big for their usual rations." Armin said in panic. He was afraid for his friend. If Eren were to be caught, then he'd end up dead and fed to the birds or something.

"It's better you don't know."

"I'm just concerned for you. You know what they did to Sa-" Eren cuts him off by grabbing the loaf from his head and putting it in Armin's mouth.

"I know that." Eren said with a grin. "I won't get caught. But if things gets crazy, then I won't rat you out. And they don't need to force you to say anything." he says and Armin chewed on the loaf of bread.

He divided it into sections as he listened to Eren. "B- But why me?"

"You're a tactician, aren't you? Find a way to get us out of here and we'll be even."

* * *

 **So first chapter is up! I hope to hear from you guys!**


	2. Chapter II: Map Gathering

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

 **Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.**

 **If you guys like this fic, I hope to hear your thoughts about it. Thanks.  
** **Read on!**

 **March 15 - Paradis Island  
** My name is Armin Arlert. Because of the huge failure in strategy and tactics against the Marleyans, we, the Eldians, just lose a huge number of soldiers in ourcurrent battle we have with them. The risk we took to gamble a thousand lives got us at a bigger disadvantage than before. Now, as a soldier captured amidst the battle, I was taken to Marley Prison, also known as, Paradis Island.

Paradis Island is a separated and uninhabited island far from the Marleyan country. But now it's a place where they put all the captured soldiers to good use.

We follow them and live another day. For now at least.

 **2:00 PM - Prisoners' Log**

Eren was sitting down on his bed, comfortably leaning on the wall behind him. The wall was made of wood, not entirely soft, but it's better than the rocky walls outside. Armin approached him and sat on his own load of rags he calls bed. "If you're here for more rations, I got nothing."

"No. I came here to tell you that I'll do as you said. I'll get us out of here."

"For real man?"

Armin nodded but before Eren could react, he had something to say first. "BUT, I have questions for you first."

"Shoot." Eren replied, eager to know what it takes to get the blonde working on a way out.

"I need to know how many tacticians and strategists are here. Captains or squad leaders. The higher ups. I need numbers. Names. Details." Armin began to speak but Eren frowned at him. "You got nothing?"

"I did the math and those guys literally got butchered in the bloodbath. Captains usually get executed on the spot. If there are team leaders in here that belong to different squads or brigades, I wouldn't know if they'd keep it. Because those ranks have an unspoken bounty on their heads." Eren replies, which got Armin worrying.

If he were to make an escape plan, it better be a foolproof one or he's a dead man for sure.

This reminded him of his talk with Eren the other night. "That's why when I told you the other night about me..."

"Yeah. I was happy. For once we get a chance to come up with something and turn the tide to our favor." Eren tells him. "We're soldiers, we train, we fight and we may or may not die to see the results. But the reason we fight is because we fight for our country." he held on Armin's shoulder and looked the blonde boy in the eyes. "I don't want to sit here and kiss Marley's ass unless I know I'm doing it for my country."

Armin didn't want to carelessly give his word on this one.

He led his own squad. But he doesn't even know what happened to anyone after he got caught. Now if he plans to form another squad out of these prisoners, he better be ready for the consequences.

"I want to live and see the end of this." Armin says. "But I surely don't want to watch my fellow men do all the work."

The two soldiers chuckled together, Eren patting the blonde before leaning back to where he was earlier. Finally being able to relax. "So what else do you need? People? Because I already know a couple of soldiers willing to stake their lives for an escape plan."

"I need a small number of people to kickstart this plan." Armin says. "But first I want to know more about how this island works. What jobs we do, all their rules, all possible compromises, the punishments, how they pull strings, the schedule, the workstations, everything about this friggin' island."

Eren smiled at Armin's determination to study the island. Guess he found the right guy for the job.

"I know someone." he says.

 **2:13 PM - CENTER FIELD**

Eren leads Armin to the Center Field. It is a large pit that is sixfeet from the ground, it's full of craters and garbage mixed with rocks and boulders and other materials taken by the Marleys from ship wrecks and such, piled altogether. The prisoners there would be required to segregate what's valuable and what's not.

Armin and Eren jumps down at the side. Armin observed the area, seeing that there are Marleyans all around the Center Field and four watchtowers on the north, south, east and west. He made sure not to be obvious while looking around and continued to follow Eren who led him to a tall woman with freckles all over her face. She wore the same gray attire as them, only dirtier and more tattered than theirs.

"Armin, this is Ymir." Eren says.

"Hey." Armin offered to shake hands with her.

"Ymir, this is Armin. He's our guy." Eren says and Ymir slapped Armin in the face so hard that he stumbled on his knees.

The guards who saw Armin fall and Ymir being the one responsible for it, they began pointing their guns at them. "Hey get back to work or we'll start shooting. This isn't your average prison. Remember that."

The blonde boy who was caught in shock, stared at Ymir and Eren. He was careful not to lay a hand on anyone or he'll get himself in trouble.

Eren helped him up and led him away from Ymir. The woman had a short eye contact with Eren before leaving herself.

"She hit me." Armin whispers to his friend.

"We'll explain later. Meet us at the Log." Eren whispered back and left Armin to the side so he could leave the pit.

Armin nodded and exited the pit by climbing up the rocks and casually walking away.

 **2:24 PM - Prisoners' Log**

The blonde was waiting alone until finally he set eyes on Eren and Ymir join him.

"Mind telling me what the slap was about?" Armin asked the moment he laid eyes on the woman who was the cause of his red cheek.

"Physical contact like that is not allowed in the Center Field. They'd strip both of us naked until they find what they want to find." Ymir explained. "They'd ask us questions and we'd be under their watch for the next few days."

"Oh."

"He's never been on the Center Field before." Eren explained to Ymir who nodded.

"I just work by delivering the rations from the guards to the kitchen." Armin replied.

"Yeah with a fragile man like yourself, I'm sure they thought you were too delicate to be assigned to work elsewhere." Ymir says. Eren hoped she did not piss off their only way out. "I'm Ymir by the way. Operator and Technician of the 45th Brigade." she said, this time, being the first to extend a hand to Armin who shook her hand.

"45th? That was sent 4 years ago." he said after releasing her hand. "You've been here long."

"Well I think it's just me now. And if you need someone who knows this place, I'm the best bet you got." she said, almost bragging.

Armin was slowly adjusting to this soldier's personality. She was rude, somehow arrogant and she'd brag about something not every soldier would. A unique soldier with a odd sense of humor but he knew he could trust her.

"So where do you want to start?"

"Everything. Tell me everything." Armin says.

"This is a lot to tell kid. But I'll give you the basics and we'll continue the rest while walking. Because guards does checkups in the Logs sometimes, and we can't be here unless it's nighttime." she says and Armin nods. "We start with... what the heck is this island about."

* * *

(from here onwards is just me explaining the map of the island)

To start off, I learned more about the island after speaking to Ymir. A survivor of the 45th brigade which was sent to battle four years ago while Eren Jaeger was a survivor of the 77th. Unlike Ymir he's been there for a year and a half.

In Paradis, there are different tasks that we do depending on the workstation and how much a soldier can perform. And the advantage we have is that the Marleyans aren't very organized about this place like I thought it was.

The island is divided by walls to separate a workstation from the other and a 50 feet wall to keep anyone from leaving the island. We don't know what awaits us outside other than freedom. Now each division has different security levels and workstations. Currently we are located in Wall Sina. We are in the center of the island. On our left is Wall Maria and on our right is Wall Rose.

 _Prisoners' Log_ is located in Wall Sina. This is where all prisoners that handles the jobs at Wall Sina resides. It's a big log house made of wood, the roof has big holes for some reason and inside is just a wide space with no divider or furniture or anything. I guess as long as Ymir's been here, these people just created the environment to survive. Forming beds out of overused cloths and rags, building small dividers to at least give some prisoners some privacy.

There are no lights at night but the moon. Windows around differ in sizes. Because some are shattered, some are not. Either way we don't close it because the fresh air helps us sleep well.

Just as Ymir said, the soldiers often check this Log if soldiers are slacking off. We are only allowed to be there when sleeping after all. We are required to wake up when the morning bell rings and go back to the Log when the evening bell rings.

Also, the Marleyans don't separate us men from working with women. But they separate our abode from them.

 _Center Field_. It is located in the boundary between Wall Sina and Wall Maria. It's a pit that's six feet deep where all the scraps and stuff are thrown off. Stuff the Marleys scavenged in previous battles. This is where they want us to re-scavenge and find stuff that's useful or just segregate items that are still worth something. They are very strict when in this field because we can pick up a lot of things here.

Each prisoner would undergo stripping and wash-ups after working there. They are also sensitive about physical contact with another prisoner. If a fight were to happen, the whole field will be on lockdown and everyone will be sent to The Hole.

 _The Hole._ This is located between the boundaries of Wall Sina and the wall. And one of the areas mostly guarded. This is where they put the prisoners they punish. Now I haven't been to one, but Ymir said that each hole is different from the other. Depending what sort of punishment will be given us.

A prisoner would last days there. But after a week? Some would die. Again, depends what sort of hole they're in.

Other than the Center Field, there are other workstations available.

 _Kitchen._ The Marley Kitchen is located in Wall Maria. Now only chosen soldiers are being assigned there because in the kitchen, there are a lot of things to grab and use to fight back. Mostly women. Then again, to enter it is very difficult.

As I mentioned before, my job involves delivering rations from the kitchen. Well I don't enter it. I just knock on the metal gate outside and wait until they give me the box to carry. With me are other fragile or sickly men.

 _Infirmary._ Then there's the infirmary located at Wall Rose. Again, chosen soldiers are assigned to assist here. The place doesn't treat all prisoners though. I don't have the slightest clue what grounds they choose to treat someone. Ymir wasn't able to get a hold much about it other than it's one heck of a building that doesn't let anyone in.

Not even soldiers of Marley enter the place unless wounded.

 _Tunnels._ Now the underground tunnels is a very big place to work in. Whether the workers are male or female, it doesn't matter. They force the prisoners to dig, to find any mineral, the likes. This tunnel is located under the whole island but there are openings. One is at Wall Rose and the other at Wall Maria.

Now there are two tunnel tasks. One is the one I already said above while the other one for the prisoners to dig a tunnel under the ocean and expects us to actually dig a tunnel long enough to reach their country. Ymir said it's a bullfrog task and she never went there because it was suicide. If the ceiling that they are building there while digging, they'd end up drowning.

While the second tunnel is located at the boundary between Wall Maria and the wall.

 _Welding._ To make weapons for Marley. Armor, the likes.

This part they are really strict about. Again, only chosen soldiers will be assigned to do this. And they also do some serious checking before one worker would be allowed to leave the factory.

It's located in Wall Maria.

Then there's the _Arena._ This is located between Wall Rose and the wall. Here they force prisoners to fight and entertain themselves. This is also where compromise happens. They do bets and sometimes the prisoners can bargain for something in exchange.

Bargaining isn't easy, but they still try.

There are two other places that Ymir went to. The _Gate_ and the _Chambers_. Both places are heavily guarded although it's loose and full of compromises in the Chambers. The Gate is the literal exit to leave the island while the Chambers is where the Marleyan guards rest.

Watchtowers aside, she mentioned that there may be other places she doesn't know of, but she'll let me know whenever she figures it out.

And now that I have all this information, it's time I get started with my plan.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy and hope to hear from you guys.  
Sorry introduction is slow-paced.**


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